Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/4E PF ED VR Lens Review

Nikon NIKKOR 300mm f/4E PF ED VR Performance

During testing, this lens produced excellent sharpness across the frame from maximum aperture, improving a little when stopped down to f/5.6.

MTF
 

How to read our charts

The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column.

The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Nikon D600 using Imatest.

Levels of chromatic aberrations are very well controlled, remaining comfortably below 0.5 pixel widths towards the edges of the frame. This low level of fringing should be pretty much impossible to spot in normal image taking, even with areas of high contrast towards the edges of the frame.

CA
 

How to read our charts

Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.

Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Nikon D600 using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners is typical for a lens of this type. At f/4 the corners are 1.85 stops darker than the image centre and visually uniform illumination is achieved with the aperture stopped down to f/6.3 or beyond.

Distortion is extremely well controlled with Imatest only being able to detect 0.748% pincushion distortion. This low level will be difficult to spot in normal photographs, but if you require absolutely straight lines, you'll be glad to find that the distortion pattern is uniform across the frame. This should make applying any corrections in image editing software reasonably straightforward.

Thanks to Nikon's Nano-crystal coating, this lens is unfazed by shooting into the light, producing good contrast in a wide range of conditions. A deep circular hood is supplied, which does a superb job of shading the lens from extraneous light that may cause issues. 

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/4E PF ED VR Sample Photos

Sharpness is excellent across the frame from maximum aperture | 1/320 sec | f/4.0 | 300.0 mm | ISO 280 High-Res	Stopping down only results in a slight improvement in sharpness | 1/400 sec | f/5.6 | 300.0 mm | ISO 100 High-Res
Closest focus is 1.4m | 1/320 sec | f/4.0 | 300.0 mm | ISO 280 High-Res	Focusing is plenty quick enough to keep up with erratic subjects | 1/320 sec | f/4.0 | 300.0 mm | ISO 640 High-Res
1/320 sec | f/4.0 | 300.0 mm | ISO 1250 High-Res	1/320 sec | f/7.1 | 300.0 mm | ISO 450 High-Res
1/320 sec | f/4.0 | 300.0 mm | ISO 140 High-Res	1/320 sec | f/8.0 | 300.0 mm | ISO 900 High-Res
1/320 sec | f/8.0 | 300.0 mm | ISO 640 High-Res

Value For Money

If price alone is taken into consideration, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this lens offers poor value for money, especially as it costs around 70% more than its predecessor. When the features added to this lens, including Vibration Reduction, compact size and light weight are taken into consideration, this lens starts to look like a decent upgrade over the old lens, and may even tempt a few owners of the AF-S 300mm f/4 IF-ED to part with their cash.

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